SambaLá Parade to Honor Mocidade at 2017 Brazilian Beat in Boca

On September 9, 2017, SambaLá Samba School will be honoring it’s future mother samba school by performing the Mocidade 1985 samba theme song (samba enredo) at the Brazilian Beat Festival on September 9, 2017 at the downtown Mizner amphitheater at 6 pm. SambaLá will be parading for the first time with its new flag (see below) along with beautiful costumes from Mocidade Samba School’s Champion-winning performance during the 2017 parade that took place in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year.

Mocidade has generously donated 38 costumes to SambaLa to use in in future parades. Some of those costumes will be on display during SambaLá ‘s parade at the Brazilian Beat on September 9. SambaLá in turn has formally invited the directors of Mocidade to the United States to see their USA based community organization in action.

The drum corp will be lead by Master Caju from Sao Paulo direct from Brazil for the event where he will be giving a free workshop in Brazilian percussion at SambaLá’s Pompano practice space.

2018 Baptism to Take Place in Rio

Rogerio Andrade (right) and the Mocidade directors during the championship in Rio in2017 where Mocidade was crowned co-champion.

SambaLá Samba School of southern Florida has the immense honor of receiving support by the 2017 Co-Champion Samba School in Rio de Janeiro, Mocidade to become the first samba school in the United States become an affiliate samba school with one of the premier samba schools in Brazil. SambaLá members and directorate are extremely grateful for this opportunity and in turn, are honoring Mocidade in their annual parade in Boca Raton Florida in September.

Mocidade samba school including patron Rogerio Andrade, President Valdir Trindade, Vice President, Rodrigo Pacheco, first lady Cinthia Abreu, and carnaval director Marquinho Marino have all agreed to baptize SambaLá during carnaval 2018 in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro in a formal “touching of flags”ceremony throwing it’s formal support behind the USA school. SambaLá’s storied history is known in Brazil and the directors of Mocidade are very confident that SambaLá is ready for such an honor.

Alex de Oliveira and SambaLá

Alex, Doris and David toasting the 2016 SambaLa parade in Boca Raton Florida

Alex de Oliveira, former Rio Carnaval king and now Carnaval Director for SambaLá, is spear-heading the effort to develop a formal relationship between SambaLá in the United States and Mocidade in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. The first fruit of this labor was a generous costume donation to SambaLá from Mocidade’s 2017 champion-winning parade.

In addition to the costume donation, Alex arranged for a baptism between the two schools during the upcoming 2018 carnaval in Rio de Janeiro. Alex who is based in Rio de Janeiro, paraded numerous times with SambaLá in California in the 2000s, and for the first time in Florida at the Brazilian Beat in 2016 in Boca Raton.

David de Hilster, president of SambaLá Samba School in the year 2000 created a world-wide event gathering samba schools around the world to parade in the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro. This opened many doors for the USA-based samba school to the world of samba in Brazil including meeting the then “King of Rio Carnaval”, Alex de Oliveira.

The rest, they say, is history. David and Doris de Hilster became good friends with Alex who now is an official director for the school working and living in Rio de Janeiro.

New Flag

The new SambaLa Flag designed by carnaval artist Alex de Oliveira which will be used in the baptism of SambaLa in Brazil during the 2018 carnaval in Rio de Janeiro.

To mark this the new relationship, SambaLá has redesigned its flag for the upcoming baptism in Rio in 2018. The design is that of SambaLá carnaval director Alex de Oliveria.

The new flag has the two major colors of SambaLá, blue and yellow, with the added green and white colors from Mocidade. Most notable, is the single star about the word SambaLá which is a direct connection to the famous “star” of Mociade. The flag is being made in Brazil, and will be brought to the United States by Alex de Oliveira just days before the parade.

About SambaLá Samba School

SambaLá Samba School is a community-based organization currently based in Pompano Beach Florida whose goal is to provide a place for Brazilians and non-Brazilians to dance, play drums, sing, and make costumes in the great tradition of Brazilian Carnaval. SambaLá gives classes in drums and dance weekly at it’s “barracao” or rehearsal space in Pompano Beach near the corner of Powerline Road and McNab.

About Alex de Oliveria

Alex de Oliveria is a carnaval artist, teacher, architect, and former King of Rio Carnaval for 10 years. Alex resides in Rio de Janeiro and is the carnaval director for SambaLá Samba School.

About Mocidade Samba School

Mocidade Samba School is based in Rio de Janeiro and is the current 2017 co-champion of the world-famous Rio de Janeiro carnaval parade competition. They were founded in 1955 and are located in the neighborhood of Padre Miguel and they are six-time champions of the famous Rio competition.